Just a status report...
I haven't been able to run msconfig lately. For a while, behaviour was very predictable, but this weekend that was not the case. Sometimes some things work. Sometimes other things. Sometimes nothing!
However, I've discovered that with the wireless turned off I can predictably do Run --> "cmd". In the command line interface I've been copying my files to a thumb drive. That is slow but it is working!

That's somewhat good news. :)

billcz said:

Of the programs on the computer, the only one I'm worried about is MS Office 2016 Pro Plus. Need to figure out how to copy that off or whatever needs to be done, after which a new install of Windows 10 would be an option. I have the activation key for Office, but the instructions say to uninstall the old copy first. Don't know if I'm going to be able to do that.

MSOffice should be linked to your MS account. If you log into My Account

you can manage your install from there. You input your keycode, and it gets you to your product(s). You can either install live, or choose other/or offline installation, and get an ISO. You should be able to deactivate your current Office install from there.

This weekend, CPU usage is steady at 80%, but split between a few processes. I did manage to disable WinHttpAutoProxySvc and iphlpsvc, I think (haven't been able to verify). Also Diagnostic Tracking Service which was taking up CPU. One of the processes taking a steady 20% of CPU is explorer.exe. So my problem is not just WinHttpAutoProxySvc using too much CPU - other things seem to take up the slack when it is disabled. It seems I have a more subtle problem.
BTW, I think Windows 10 is fully installed. At least, at the command prompt, "systeminfo" says the OS is Windows 10 installed back on 7/12. That was early on in my troubles.
I'll tackle it some more next weekend...

Windows 10 should be activated then, which means you can clean install as often as you like/need, skipping when it asks for a code during install. I would also choose a custom install for W10 and nuke all partitions, so you are installing to an unallocated drive. That *should* make sure, if you had any infections, that they don't survive (of course, depends on the infection).

Good luck! :)

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Well, I'm ready to give up and download Windows 10 to a thumb drive and boot from that. I've managed to copy all my files off of the system.
I don't have a Microsoft Account - I got my MS Office from a Home Use Program (HUP). But I found my product code.
I disabled the services that were using all the CPU, and rebooted, and the CPU was still pegged, with a different set of apps and services. By pegged I mean 99% most of the time, with quick drops down to about 70% every 30 seconds or so. So then I disabled some of the new culprits, restarted, and the CPU was still at 99% in the same pattern, with new culprits. So there is something seriously wrong with the scheduler or whatever is responsible for CPU usage.
I've changed TimeBroker in the registry from 3 to 4. That didn't help.
I've managed to turn off most everything in Settings. That didn't help.
In a safe mode start up, I did a full system scan with Norton Security. It only found 28 tracking cookies. But even in safe mode, things seemed flaky.

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Well, I'm ready to give up and download Windows 10 to a thumb drive and boot from that. I've managed to copy all my files off of the system.
I don't have a Microsoft Account - I got my MS Office from a Home Use Program (HUP). But I found my product code.
I disabled the services that were using all the CPU, and rebooted, and the CPU was still pegged, with a different set of apps and services. By pegged I mean 99% most of the time, with quick drops down to about 70% every 30 seconds or so. So then I disabled some of the new culprits, restarted, and the CPU was still at 99% in the same pattern, with new culprits. So there is something seriously wrong with the scheduler or whatever is responsible for CPU usage.
I've changed TimeBroker in the registry from 3 to 4. That didn't help.
I've managed to turn off most everything in Settings. That didn't help.
In a safe mode start up, I did a full system scan with Norton Security. It only found 28 tracking cookies. But even in safe mode, things seemed flaky.

I see disk thrashing a lot with W7>W10 upgrades, and usually it's a result of driver issues, and OEM crapware. But one I just finished working on, was so bad - and it turned out to be a corrupted user account (as well as drivers). I suspect the original upgrade was done with the 3rd-party AV installed, which usually causes this.

I will say though, I've not seen any problems with clean installs on W7 machines - that seems to fix it all. :)

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Well, every step is another hurdle!
I did a clean install of Windows 10 from a bootable thumb drive. But it is not activated. I guess my problematic install of Windows 10 was never activated? (When I did "systeminfo" in the command line, I got a product ID - I didn't realize that is not the same as an activation code. But anyways, I assumed that it was installed properly.)
I called Microsoft and they told me to take a hike (ie. go buy Windows 10). They said I should have called them before I did the clean install, and they can't help me now. But I went ahead with the clean install since I've read in many places that you should be able to do that. At any rate, is there anything I can do at this point?

So the bottom line is I had a perfectly good Windows 7 Pro machine, and now I have a lump of hardware unless I shell out. Thanks a lot, Microsoft! It is all very frustrating, and way too time consuming for an end user to have to go thru.

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I thought of that, but I don't have it. It is a Dell PC, and the key is not on a sticker on the PC, not on the order form and not on the sleeve for the OS reinstall disk. I even called Dell. They said the product key is burned into the processor or something.

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If it has a removable battery, it's worth looking behind that to see if the Windows 7 Product key is there.
I'm sure I've seen that on a laptop and I think it was a Dell.
Or if you have a backup of when it was running Windows 7, you could restore that.

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i cant excess my external wd usb drive.. i can eject it from the task bar, see it in device manager.. nothing wrong, its says device is working properly and is updated, i can see it in the connected devices settings, i can see it in computer management but cant do anything to it.. but when i go to this pc under devices and drives its not there making it inaccessible.. i even tried changing the auto play settings.. uninstalling it still nothing

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